What Could Be
by CSI3Snickers
Summary: A Snicker's point of view of how TPTB are showing the NickSara relationship


**Disclaimer: Not mine. Clever, huh?**

**AN: In talkcsi, we were discussing about how TPTB might announce Nick and Sara's hook-up. So here's what I came up with. Basically, I think this is all TPTB are going to give us. sigh Oh, I'm not good with case files, so cut me some slack, okay? Enjoy!**

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Sara stared down at the body of a 19 year old woman found in her college dorm room. She refused to choke out a sob as she saw bruises illuminate from the flash of her camera. She knew she didn't have to run a sexual assault kit to know that the vic was brutally beaten and then raped. And murdered.  
She stayed in a crouching position to just stare at Jane Doe, and she subconsciously ran her gloved hand on top of her head. It was as if she believed that stroking her hair would comfort her still. But she knew all too well that it wouldn't. The last thing she'd need was a display of affection from a stranger.

"Sara?" Grissom called her attention.

All she did was turn her head to the direction of the voice, not even registering that it was her supervisor.

"Why don't you take a break? Get some fresh air," he offered gently. He knew the reason why she gets wound up with abuse cases.

She started shaking her head, "Uh, no, it's okay, Grissom. I'll be fine."

He didn't believe her for one second. "Sara," he said in a firm tone.

When did he start to express empathy?

"No, I can do it, Griss."

"No, Sara. I know why you're like this."

"Look, Grissom, I appreciate the concern. I do. But…just…I can do this, okay?"

He looked at her for a moment. "All right."

She was now more upset, since one of the things she hates the most is when her ability to do her job is called into question.

She got in the crime lab after all the evidence was collected. She went in the DNA lab to check in DNA samples, surprised to find Greg sitting in front of the computer, running samples in CODIS.

With a furrowed brow, she asked, "What are you doing here?"

He spun in his chair to find Sara holding evidence bags. "Well, you see, I work here. In case you didn't know. Greg Sanders," he got up and extended his hand to her as if they were meeting for the first time.

She didn't look in the least amused. "Where's Mia? Or Wendy?"

"Mia's on leave, remember? And Wendy called in sick, so here I am, reminiscing my labrat days."

"Oh. Well, can you run this? Sexual assault kit and blood from the scene."

"Sure," his tone changed. He knew from 6 years of working with her that these cases bothered her.

"Thanks," and with that, she left the DNA lab.

In the layout room, she took out the victim's bed sheet that she had retrieved from the scene. She turned on the ALS, checking for bodily fluids that might've take residence on the fabric from the crime. She wasn't surprised when the sheet glowed bright from seminal fluid.

The sound of the ALS machine whirring filled the room as she swabbed the glowing blob.

The somewhat eerie silence was interrupted my Grissom's voice. "I just got back from the morgue," he began. He was standing in the doorway, holding the autopsy file in hand. "I found contusions in both of her wrists, so she certainly did put up a fight, and I found more bruises on her torso…."

"What was the cause of death?" She interrupted.

"It's a toss-up with blunt force trauma to the head and positional asphyxia."

She shook her head and used her hands for support as she leaned all of her weight onto the layout table. She sighed, but tried to keep up the professional CSI façade. "Anything else?"

"Uh, I had Hodges run a tox screen. I told him to page you when he gets the results."

She had a confused look on her face.

"Brass and I are interviewing the vic's roommate."

"All right." Get me stuck in the lab, why don't you? She knew he was trying to get her as far away from people as possible because of her tendency of being hostile.

Just as he left, Catherine joined her in the layout room. "Hey, Sara." After the mail-order bride case last year, she knew not to tick Sara off. But she wasn't exactly going to completely back off because of that, either.

"Hey."

"You gonna be okay?"

She stared at her for a moment. She had had a sneaking suspicion that Grissom would put Catherine in the case, too. "Yeah." She knew Catherine probably meant well.

Just then, Catherine's pager beeped. "Ooh. Hodges just got the results. I'll be in tox." With that, she dashed off.

Unbelievable.

On her way to the DNA lab, she came across Catherine, who was just getting out of the tox lab.

"The vic had Rohypnol in her system," Catherine relayed as they started walking together.

"That doesn't make sense. She had contusions on her wrists and lots of signs of struggle. They didn't have to do that if they drugged her."

"Well, it's not like the Rohypnol was easy to apply to her. She had to fight back."

Sara just nodded.  
The two breezed in the DNA lab.

"Got the results…" Greg said, waving the result in the air.

"What is it?" Sara asked.

"The semen in the vaginal cavity matches a Kyle Mitchell. Got busted for breaking and entering a sorority house and assault on the same premises," he handed Sara the sheet. "The blood found on the pillow case is a match to the victim. She still a Jane Doe?"

Catherine nodded.

"You two up for a surprise?" Greg asked.

They just nodded again.

"The vic was pregnant. But….it's too early to run a paternity test, so…"

"I gotta go to the morgue," Sara got out of the DNA lab, leaving Catherine with Greg.

"See ya, Greg," Catherine left too.

Sara breezed in the morgue, to find Doc Robbins doing an autopsy for another case. "Hey Doc?"

"You need something, Sara?"

"Yeah. The vic--she was pregnant. Can you tell how far along she was?"

"Sure." With that, Doc Robbins walked to the metal drawers containing bodies. He pulled it out, and Sara didn't pay attention to what he did. She just stared at the girl, studying her. She was a redhead, and she looked so pale and slightly blue from the asphyxia.

"Sara?" Doc Robbins called her attention. It hit her that she'd been staring at the girl too long. "She was just ten weeks along."

"Thanks, Doc."

"No problem," he said as he watched her walk away.

"Willows," Catherine answered her ringing phone.

"Hey, Catherine, it's Grissom. We got a name on Jane Doe--Kate Evans. Her roommate, Lisa, gave us names of possible suspects. Turns out that there was a party in their sorority house about two weeks ago."

"Yeah, the semen from the sex assault kit matched a guy named Kyle Mitchell, who was arrested for B&E and assault on a sorority house."

"Same guy?"

"Maybe."

"Yeah, we're taking him in PD now. You coming?"

"Yeah, Sara and I'll be there"  
"All right," and with that, the conversation ended.

Catherine went to find Sara. She found her reading the case file over a cup of coffee in the break room. "Hey, Gil got a suspect, they're taking him to PD. You coming?"

"Yeah," She snapped the manila folder shut, and followed Catherine.

After a silent drive, the two finally arrived in PD. They watched Grissom and Brass interrogate the suspect from the one-way mirror.

"Kyle…you got busted for breaking and entering a sorority house. And assault. Care to explain?" Brass started.

"Oh, that was a fraternity initiation. Crash a party…score a chick, dump her, but her picture in the Wall of Shame," he confidently explained.

"But it wasn't as simple as that, wasn't it?"

"Nah. Those bitches are armed, man. This one chick sprayed pepper spray on me, so slapped her."

"Yeah, that's always nice, isn't it?" Brass sardonically asked.

"She sprayed me man! What do you expect me to do? Be all gentlemanly and leave her alone?"

"She sprayed you. She."

Kyle just shook his head, not believing the detective actually can't see his point.

"How well do you know Kate Evans?" Grissom piped up.

"Who the hell is that?"

"Hey, look, you can play the denial card, but I'll tell you right now, it ain't working," Brass supplied.

"I'm serious, man, I don't know her!"

"Then how did we find your semen in her vaginal cavity?"

He had a smug smile on his face. "Oh, that. Yeah, I nailed that bitch."

Sara's had it. She rushed out of the one way room, and opened the door with force. Catherine couldn't stop her.

She stood next to Kyle, staring him down with her arms crossed at her chest. "That's how you get off, huh? Raping pregnant women?"

"Whoa, she was pregnant?"

"Oh, cut the clueless routine crap, will ya?"

He gulped. "I--I…Look, I met her at that party from two weeks ago. Then, bam, two days later, she says she's pregnant, and she doesn't know who the father is."

"And you panicked, right? You thought it was you, and you didn't want to have anything to do with it, so you killed her"  
He gulped again. "No. I didn't."

"Yeah. But that wasn't it, Kyle. You brutally beat her, raped her, and then killed her. What the hell is wrong with you?" She was infuriated now.

He didn't answer.

"You raped her. Even after she told you she was pregnant. Why?"

"I…I wanted her. Look, I've had my eyes on her even before the party."

She gave him a look that said she wasn't giving him pity either.

"I just wanted one last ride."

"You bastard!" She moved to slap him, but Brass bolted out of his seat and moved her away from him. He moved her near the door, making calming noises at her.

"Hey, Sara, we got him, okay? We got him."

Grissom walked to Brass and Sara. Brass walked away to deal with Kyle, leaving Grissom with Sara.

"Sara, why don't you go home? We got it."

"No, Grissom! I have a backbone--I can deal with it!

"And you're not dealing with it well."

Sara just stared at him.

"Go home, Sara."

"Fine," she walked out of the room, anger flashing in her eyes.

She got in her Denali, and drove home. Her second time being sent home. What was she? A misbehaving high school prankster? There were tears in her eyes, and she added extra pressure on her foot on the gas pedal. How dare he tell her she wasn't doing well in her job.

She got home, and the first thing she reached for was a beer from the fridge. She plopped down on her couch. She didn't even worry about her so-called drinking wagon. So what if she went back on the wagon again? No one gives a damn about her. No one understands her.

How the hell did she even get this job, anyway? Even she, Sara Sidle, didn't wish to be a forensic scientist when she was a kid. She started crying.

Just then, a series of knocks were upon her door. She fervently wiped her tears with her hands. Setting the beer down, she walked to her door, thinking that it might be Grissom once again, either telling her that she's suspended for God knows how long or he's obligated to have a chat with her again.

She opened the door to reveal Nick Stokes still in his CSI vest, giving her a concerned smile.

"Heard you had a rough case," he said quietly.

"Come in."

**THE END. (Now imagine the flashing credits and the intro of "Who Are You" playing)**

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AN: Please Review! 


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